Understanding
by Missy Holland
Summary: They can see the stars from their back porch and the lights of the city from the front door. Addison and Charlotte get away from all the drama of LA and find something along the way. *femmeslash* Posted in PP fiction under the name "She Knows".


**Author´s Note: Do not own. I just love the miracles that are KaDee and Kate. And how epic and fierce they can be. **

**Since Sam/Addison disgusts me just the tiniest bit, I skipped the kiss. Since Cooper/Charlotte is my canon OTP, he's in there quite a bit. But this is my fantasy of what **_**could**_** have been. Also note that I'm only halfway through season 3 so don't hate if it's waaay from canon. **

**Not sure about the rating, I'm keeping it T, let me know if I should change it to M. **

**Spoilers: Some minor details covering episodes up to 3.08 **

Charlotte doesn't give a single damn about her 25 million trust fund and she never complains when Addison does not want to spend the night at her place. Addison does not have a best friend who always comes first in her life and she does not turn around and walk away when Charlotte doesn't tell her something.

They do not care about the way the other expresses emotion: Addison cries and rants and Charlotte retreats into herself and uses sex to explain herself.

Together they can forget about Kevin and Cooper and Pete and the practice. Together they know that they do not need their fathers to walk them down the aisle when the time comes to get married. When Addison stays out with colleagues to have a drink and she comes home drunk, she does not call Charlotte names and Charlotte doesn't kick her out in anger.

Charlotte never had to tear down the bathroom to feel at home with Addison, they bought a house together, the first house they bought with an equal. They decorate it together and it's not on the beach and not in Los Angeles but it is more home than either LA, Seattle or the south have ever been. It has a lot of land and Addison can recklessly spend money on a horse because Charlotte understands and allows her to do with her money what she wants.

There is no more drama in their lives, no messed up colleagues and no more fights in the office about the lack of patients in the practice or surgical privileges. Addison is a surgeon and Charlotte is a chief of staff. Same hospital, different floors and enough common ground to talk about over dinner. When they fight, Charlotte has someone who pushes back instead of a Cooper who walks out on her every other day and Addison can yell and scream "seriously?" as often as she likes and know it is going to be all right afterwards. They always go to bed together and never if they are angry.

They've known each other for years and they know about the past. They get each other and yet every day they learn something new. Their house is a safe place where Charlotte is most definitely not heartless and Addison can slouch in her sweats without feeling ugly. Addison gets it when Charlotte doesn't kiss her or hold her hand at work. She understands the need for the drawled "Montgomery" she gets when they meet in hallways. For the first time since they began their medical career, they have not had sex in their workplace. They have sex in their bedroom or on the kitchen counter when they feel adventurous but for the first time since they started having relationships it is not complicated at work and Addison does not have to worry about some surgeon who she is or is not going to have sex with. The hospital is small and nice and Charlotte does not feel like she is failing and she tells Addison she loves her every morning.

They know.

They know so many things about each other. Addison knows that even though Charlotte might use roleplaying to spice things up or hide emotions, she gets off the best when it's just Addison, in bed, under the covers, using her fingers and her mouth ever so gently on Charlotte. Just two fingers and slow, not fast fucking like she had with Cooper. Charlotte knows that Addison does indeed love to have food eaten off her body, but not noodles like that damn cop used. She knows that Addison prefers pineapple and mango because Charlotte has the sweetest flavor on her tongue that, combined with Addison's juices, make the both of them moan. They both don't need adventurous anymore. They had that and it messed them up. Together Charlotte and Addison piece themselves back together on a ranch just outside of San Francisco and though the city is nothing like Los Angeles, it feels home because there are just coworkers and their neighbors, Seann and Lyle, who are as gay as unicorns and rainbows and make the best martinis and live several miles away. At night they are just far away enough from the city to actually be able to see the stars from their back porch and the lights of the city from their front porch. They walk back and forth and shed pieces of clothing somewhere along the way. In the mornings they go for runs and once in a while Charlotte wakes Addison up to see the sunrise with her and Addison can see the little Southern girl that went on cattle drives with Big Daddy.

They left six months ago.

Everything was falling apart in the practice a few months before they left; Cooper called Charlotte a bitch and everyone was going crazy. Addison found Charlotte on her front porch with a bottle of scotch and doubt in her eyes. But Addison was the only one at the practice who did not drool over Cooper like Violet and Pete did and Charlotte didn't like Sam or Naomi or Kevin and they could trash talk without hurting the other's feelings.

They weren't friends, just coworkers who did not hate each other. But on Addison's couch, a pact was made. They would stick together to avoid going completely mad. Sticking together turned into Cooper being kicked out of his own house so they could have a girl's night and Charlotte could finally and subtly drop the hideous vase Cooper had gotten from Violet. But somehow, on their knees on the rug picking up shards, Charlotte realized that Addison had the most perfect cleavage ever and Addison saw in her eyes that Charlotte did not care about the vase anymore anyway. Nothing happened, but the pact became even stronger and a month later it was dinner twice a week because Addison was single and Cooper was with Violet consoling her over her baby and Pete. It was working.

Until the whole drama happened with Addison stuck in a car in a canyon and Cooper going to jail for a patient. When Sam dropped Addison off at her home, Charlotte was there, looking insecure and scared. Instead of hugging Addison, she took her hands, covered in dried blood, and took her upstairs to Addison's bathroom. That was the first time Charlotte undressed a woman. Addison looked so fragile and so broken in her sports bra and boxers with two stringy pigtails it made Charlotte cry. She stepped into the shower to hide her tears and pulled Addison under the spray with her. There, as Charlotte was washing Addison's hair and the blood and dirt and sweat swirled down the drain, Addison was the first to give in, so completely empty inside and only her feelings for Charlotte left.

"I need you".

Not the three words Charlotte was scared to say to anyone, but three words that meant calling Cooper to cancel their anniversary dinner and leaving Sam a voicemail saying Addison and she needed the weekend off. They stayed on the couch and Charlotte held Addison's hand the entire weekend.

When Addison called the cops on Cooper and Charlotte, it almost broke them. The hurt in Charlotte's eyes when she realized what Addison had done could have done so, so many things. But when Addison appeared on their doorstep, tears in her eyes, to apologize to Cooper and Charlotte both, the choice was made. She sent Cooper back in, stepped out and put her arms around Addison's waist.

"I am yours".

The next morning they both called in sick and as soon as Cooper left the house with a kiss on Charlotte's cheek, they packed up Addison's place. When Cooper got home that night, half of his dresser was empty and the box with sexy outfits was still there.

When Addison and Charlotte left Los Angeles, Addison told her she had found a place to live. Charlotte didn't care that someone else took control and Addison wanted to be in control for once in her life. The ranch was perfect and it wasn't until they were on the floor, on all the designer clothes and blankets they had, that the moving truck would take a day longer to get there and they had 24 hours of silence. They kissed for the first time then, without consequences, without baggage and without caring what anyone else might need, want or think of them. And when Addison rolled on top of Charlotte and slowly moved lower and lower down Charlotte's body, the hardwood floors seemed like heaven. 24 hours of orgasmic bliss, of making love. Charlotte was new to making love and Addison had had too many people tell her it was making love instead of fucking, so they both were new to the concept but it was sweet, tender, if not a little awkward. They had sex with both their hearts involved and when they both cried afterwards it was not pathetic, it was just them. The She-Devil and McSatan.

They made it out together and Charlotte doesn't give a damn that Addison wakes her on Sundays at 8 in the morning by licking her breasts before trying to get up and ride her horse. Addison could care less that Charlotte possessively pulls her back into bed and she does not get to the stables until after lunch.

They never told anyone. When they got the ranch in San Francisco Addison called the practice and Charlotte called Cooper. Neither Sam nor Cooper were satisfied with the explanation that they had needed to get away. Charlotte and Addison do not care. None of their family back home know. They call once a week and sometimes they meet with them outside of both LA and San Francisco. Pete, Sam and Cooper have had crushes on Addison or Charlotte or both, they are too protective of their masculinity to actually believe the two of them could be together. Violet suspects something, as does Naomi but both women ignore their suspicion and admire how happy they look. Only Dell knows. But Dell knows everything so that really doesn't count. Addison only told Callie and Arizona because it turns out Charlotte is friends with Teddy so the five of them have conference calls and reminisce and Addison and Charlotte are happy.

They are happy and they are away from Los Angeles and they found their other, perfect, piece of the puzzle when they least expected it.


End file.
